


10 Things

by RheatheHadley



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, it took me a year to finish this lol, really - Freeform, so in love it hurts, they're adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 14:40:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15245568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RheatheHadley/pseuds/RheatheHadley
Summary: Keith's ten favorite things about Shiro.(Plus Shiro's favorite thing about Keith.)





	10 Things

**Author's Note:**

> I started off writing this for my sister, but a year later I think I finally finished it for me. (Season 6 was definitely a great motivator tho. The Black Paladins episode thoroughly wrecked me.) Some sections are way longer than others, but oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> I hope you guys enjoy it!

  1. Hair



“Do you think I should get a haircut?” Shiro’s voice cut through the silence of the room abruptly. They had been studying for the past few hours, both of them deeply engrossed in their own work.

“Huh?” Keith looked up from his assignment, blinking owlishly. His eyes had hardly left his textbook in the last hour and he desperately needed a break.

“A haircut,” Shiro said again. “My hair keeps getting in the way.” He practically pouted as he brushed his tuft of hair out of his face for what seemed like the millionth time in the past hour.

“I don’t know.” Keith shrugged. “Do you _want_ a haircut?”

“Well, it would make studying for finals a lot less annoying,” Shiro admitted. “Every time I look down at my book it falls in my face.”

Keith set his book to the side and crossed the room to where Shiro sat. Then he planted himself in the taller boy’s lap. “I don’t think you should make decisions regarding your appearance right now. The stress of finals just has you frustrated. I feel like if I let you get a haircut now, you’d just regret it as soon as testing was over.”

“You’re probably right,” Shiro agreed begrudgingly. “But that doesn’t make it any less annoying right now.”

“And besides,” Keith continued, ignoring Shiro’s last comment. “I like your hair like this.” He ran his hands though the longer hair on the front of Shiro’s head before pushing it back, tilting Shiro’s head up with the same action. In one swift motion, he leaned down and captured Shiro’s lips with his own.

Shiro smiled pleasantly and brought his hands to Keith’s waist, kissing back eagerly.

“You know,” Shiro said after a moment, pausing their kiss. “My hair is hardly regulation like this.”

Keith barked out a laugh. “And you think I care? Have you seen my hair lately? You could probably tell me the exact page of the handbook where it says a boy’s hair isn’t allowed to reach their collar.”

“I could, but I won’t,” Shiro said. “I like your hair long like this.”

“So, we’re in agreement then? No haircuts?”

“No haircuts,” Shiro agreed before pulling Keith back in for another kiss.

 

  1. Voice



Keith would never get tired of the way Shiro said his name. Everyone else said it like he was a nuisance, a tool to be used for his piloting skills, someone not worth their time unless they were getting something out of him.

Shiro was different. When he said _Keith_ , he might as well have been saying _love_. There was warmth and gentleness in his tone always. He addressed Keith like a person worth something, worth _everything_. Keith would never get tired of hearing his name fall from the taller boy’s lips.

-V-

Keith remembered the first time he heard Shiro sing. They were in Shiro’s dorm. Keith was finishing up a paper while Shiro was cleaning. What started out as absentminded humming turned into Shiro serenading him with horrible pop songs, swaying his hips and throwing saucy winks over his shoulder.

It was magical to watch Shiro so carefree. As the Garrison’s Golden Boy, Shiro was constantly held to such high standards. Moments like this, where he could just let go and be himself, couldn’t be taken lightly. Keith could help but abandon his paper and dance with him.

-V-

Keith was no stranger to nightmares. His time in foster care had left him with enough experiences to haunt his dreams forever. One of his first nights sleeping in Shiro’s dorm, he was pulled roughly from his sleep by horrible images plastered on the insides of his eyelids, the distant smell of alcohol on someone’s breath. If he had been in his own room, falling back to sleep would have been a laborious, almost nonexistent task involving breathing exercises and an old novel.

With Shiro, things were easier. He felt the wetness on his cheeks for only a moment before Shiro was brushing it away. Hands held him gently, but firmly enough to remind him where he was and that he was safe. The best part was his voice – sweet and soothing, a Japanese lullaby he couldn’t understand. But the words didn’t matter, it was his tone that carried meaning, carried all the affection Keith could ever need. When Shiro sang him to sleep, the nightmares couldn’t touch him.

 

  1. Eyes



The world was full of dishonest people. Keith knew this better than most people. Classmates ask to be your friend just so they can cheat off your homework. Adults make promises they never intend to keep. People are practically trained to lie. Not Keith – if he was faced with the need to lie, he’d simply stay silent every time.

Shiro wasn’t like everyone else. He didn’t lie because he was horrible at it. His eyes gave him away every time, in every situation. His gunmetal greys looked intimidating but were so genuine. If he was sad, tears would surface. If he was happy, they’d crinkle at the corners and gleam. Honestly, his eyes would twinkle like a goddamn Disney Princess’.

When Shiro looked at him, Keith knew he’d do anything the older boy asked. He’d rein in his temper, even if he’d rather lash out at everyone nearby. He’d get some rest, even if he felt the need to stay up and study until the sun rose.

His eyes were observant, too. They’d study Keith. They knew him in every form – from tired to angry to happy to sad and everything in between. So Shiro always knew immediately when something was wrong by noticing the tiniest of details – the slump of his shoulders was too much, the circles beneath his eyes were a shade too dark for comfort, the repeated clenching of his fists gave away rising frustrations. Underneath Shiro’s gaze, Keith was vulnerable. He hated being vulnerable, but he’d let Shiro’s eyes pick him apart every time.

 

  1. Make-Up Skills



“Shiro… w-would you do my make-up for me?”

It had taken him weeks to ask, and when he finally had, he couldn’t even do it smoothly. Shiro didn’t seem to notice the poor delivery. Instead, his jaw dropped and his eyes went wide for a moment before he managed to collect himself.

“Of course! I’d love to,” he smiled.

He sat Keith down in his bathroom, having the shorter boy’s back face the mirror, and pulled out a huge bin of cosmetics.

“Wow,” Keith breathed. “I had no idea you had this much.”

Shiro shrugged. “You never know what you’re gonna need, so you have to be prepared for every situation.” He explained it like it was a battle he was preparing for. Keith struggled not to laugh at how serious he seemed.

“So, what exactly did you want me to do? Because I’m up for whatever.”

Keith reached up to tug at a strand of his hair before dropping his hands back into his lap. “I don’t know. You’re the expert, I figured I’d just let you decide.” The excitement that flooded Shiro’s face let Keith know he’d made the right choice asking Shiro to do this.

Shiro practically dove into his make-up bin, emerging in a blur of bottles and tubes and brushes of various shapes and sizes. Though he was clearly thrilled at the opportunity to do Keith’s make-up, he moved with careful precision. His movements were sure, his hands never shook, his gaze never faltered from what he was doing. As happy as Shiro was to be doing his make-up, Keith was just as happy watching Shiro as he worked. The gleam in his eyes, the way his tongue stuck out as he concentrated, the focused crease between his eyebrows – he was beautiful.

When Shiro finally finished, he gave Keith permission to turn and look in the mirror. It was… amazing. His lips were glossy instead of chapped like they normally were. The eyeshadow was smoky, and the eyeliner was flawless. He’d done a wonderful job.

“Thanks, Shiro,” he said, still looking at his reflection. “You made me look beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful all on your own,” Shiro argued.

Keith couldn’t stop the blush that rose to his cheeks and shaded the tips of his ears.

 

  1. Humility



Shiro was the Golden Boy of Galaxy Garrison. Everyone one knew who he was. Teachers wished they had classes full of students just like him. Students wanted to either be him or be friends with him. Yet despite all the attention, he never let it go to his head. When he was praised for his grades, he said he couldn’t do it without exceptional instruction from his teachers. When complimented on his skill in the sim, he brought attention to how amazing the simulators were as a feat of technology. When he was congratulated on winning a sparring match, he spoke of the excellent fight put up by his opponent. No matter how much everybody tried making things about him, he made it about everyone else.

To Keith, this was nothing short of amazing. All day, he was surrounded by hotshot pilots who thought they were so cool but were really only average. And then Shiro came along, a pilot who was so much more than average, and was more humble than anyone he’d ever met. If anyone deserved to brag, it was Shiro. But he never did.

“You’re just so amazing Shiro.” Keith once said. “You could have anyone in this whole school, but you picked me. Why?”

“If you think I’m so amazing that I don’t deserve you, then you are sorely mistaken. You are the strongest, most hardworking person I’ve ever met. If anyone in this relationship is undeserving Keith, it’s definitely me.”

 

  1. Abysmal Cooking Skills



Shiro liked to call himself a romantic. Keith just called him a sap, but he secretly loved how Shiro always tried to sweep him off his feet both literally and figuratively. There were cute cards on Valentine’s Day and stargazing on Keith’s birthday. Even their regular dates Shiro loved planning out. He wanted to cover all the basics of dating, so they tried it all; bowling, the movies, mini golf, hiking, camping, trips to nice restaurants – but one thing that hadn’t done was have a nice home cooked, candlelit dinner and it was driving Shiro crazy. It’s not like the Garrison’s commissary was an option. But Shiro was nothing if not patient, so he sat back and waited for the perfect opportunity.

When Matt told him that his family was going out of town for the weekend to visit some relatives, it only took a bit of bribery for Shiro to acquire his house key, but Shiro was convinced it would totally be worth it. He purchased some candles and the ingredients for a simple lasagna recipe. After fueling up his hoverbike, he and Keith took off for the Holt’s.

In hindsight, Shiro probably should have realized the major flaw in his plan: he couldn’t cook for shit. No matter how simple the lasagna recipe was, he should have known it would be too complicated. Box mac ‘n cheese was as simple as it got, and he still managed to ruin that half the time.

Now, he stood in the Holt’s lovely kitchen with a blackened tray of not-quite-lasagna on the counter in front of him and the smell of burnt cheese quickly filling the whole house. And Keith, being the kind and loving boyfriend he was, stood behind Shiro laughing.

“It smells _so_ bad in here,” Keith coughed, fanning the offending smell away from his nose.

“I know,” Shiro pouted,

“And there’s no way we can eat that,” he said, eyeballing the inedible mass on the counter.

“I know,” Shiro repeated, pouting even harder.

Keith saw the downtrodden look on his face. “Hey, don’t be sad.”

“But I ruined the whole date!”

The shorter boy stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Shiro’s waist from behind. “I don’t think the date is ruined. So what if we don’t end up eating what you made? Doesn’t everyone always say it’s the thought that counts? And besides, I got to watch you attempt to cook for me. You got all focused when you were shredding the cheese – it was kinda cute.”

Shiro rolled his eyes but turned in Keith’s arms to hug him back. “When did you get so wise?”

Keith shrugged. “I guess you’re rubbing off on me.”

And just like that, the date wasn’t ruined anymore. They cleaned up the failed meal attempt and opened nearly all the windows in the house to get rid of the smell. Then, they ordered pizza, curled up on the couch, and watched Mulan. It ended up being a pretty great night.

Back at school on Monday, when Matt asked them why their entire house smelled like horrendously burnt cheese, they could only laugh.

 

  1. Smell



Keith got out of his last class and headed for Shiro’s room to decompress from his horrible day. He’d gotten into an argument with his team in the simulator, had a pop quiz in physics that he felt like he bombed, and was so off his game that he’d been distracted during combat training and lost a match he normally would have won with his eyes closed. It had been a long day and he really wanted nothing more than to lie on Shiro’s bed while he listened to the taller boy study for his test the following day. That might sound boring to anyone else, but right now he’d like to do nothing more.

Once Keith arrived at Shiro’s room he knocked, but there was no answer. He let himself in with his own keycard, grateful that Matt had hacked Shiro’s door to let him in. Lying on Shiro’s desk was a note – “got called in for a last minute meeting, be back shortly <3”. Keith sighed. It seemed like there were always more meetings, always _something_ to keep Shiro away from him longer than he would like, or maybe he just felt like that because he’d had a bad day. Either way, he had time to kill before Shiro’s arrival. His first thought was to catch a nap – it had been a long day, and a nap might help him feel better – but then he turned to Shiro’s private bathroom and decided on taking a nice hot shower. First and second year cadets have communal bathrooms, and therefore a limited time to shower before someone starts yelling at you to hurry up, and the showers in the gym never get hotter than ‘mildly warm.’ So, Keith was going to take full advantage of Shiro’s shower.

After turning on the water and stripping out of his clothes, Keith stepped under the spray and practically moaned at how good it felt. He always got horribly tense on bad days and the temperature and water pressure were doing wonders to help him relax. Grabbing the soap, Keith began to scrub the sweat from his failed sparring match down the drain. Then he moved on to the shampoo and lathered a generous amount into his hair. It was good quality stuff, so he felt a bit bad for using so much of it, but he couldn’t focus on that. With the steam and the soap and the shampoo, the entire bathroom smelled like Shiro. Keith tilted his head back to rinse out the shampoo and took a deep breath. Maybe Shiro was stuck in a meeting somewhere and couldn’t be here with Keith, but the younger boy could pretend.

When he was done, he toweled off and chose to pull on some of Shiro’s clothes instead of his own. They were ridiculously big on him, but they were soft, and they smelled like Shiro. Then, he crawled into Shiro’s bed, got comfortable between his sheets, and buried his face into his pillow. It was there Keith fell asleep, wishing for the meeting to end just a little bit faster.

-V-

The meeting ended later than expected and Shiro felt immensely guilty. Shiro had gotten word of Keith’s failure during combat training and knew the younger boy was probably having a rough day – Keith didn’t mess up when he was sparring for no reason. When Shiro got to his dorm, he paused outside and took a deep breath before entering.

He wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting, but all the lights off and a body sleeping in his bed wasn’t it. Shiro stepped inside, closed the door quietly behind him, and carefully took of his boots. Then he silently stripped out of his uniform, pulled on a pair of sweatpants, and crawled into bed next to his boyfriend. Despite his efforts to not wake him, Keith stirred. He let out a small groan that was more of a sigh than anything, and slowly blinked open his eyes.

Shiro loved the way Keith’s long eyelashes tiredly brushed his cheeks before his tired violet eyes were revealed, clouded with sleepy confusing. “Hey sweetheart,” Shiro said, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his forehead. With his lips on Keith’s forehead and his nose buried in his hair he realized Keith smelled different than he normally did. “Is that my shampoo?”

Keith nodded, still half asleep. “Smells nice, smells like you.” He rolled to the side and buried his face in Shiro’s chest. “Not as good as the real thing though.”

Shiro huffed out a laugh. “Go back to sleep Keith. You’re so tired you probably don’t even know what you’re saying right now.”

“Do to,” Keith grumbled. “I had a bad day today and I missed you, but you’re here so it’s better now.”

“I missed you,” Shiro whispered softly, “and I’m sorry you had a bad day.”

Keith shrugged, “S’okay, not your fault. But I just wanna sleep now.”

Shiro pressed another kiss to his forehead. “Goodnight Keith. I promise to be here when you wake up.”

           

  1. Sparring



Most people had two instincts: fight or flight. Keith only had one, and it definitely never told him to flee. He didn’t run; he stood his ground no matter what kind of trouble he would get in for doing so. Or at least, he did until the Garrison, until Shiro. When Keith was ready to fight the kid in his class for making fun of him, Shiro reminded him how much he loved flying, and that if he got expelled from the Garrison for fighting then his dreams would be over. As much as it pained Keith to back down from a fight, he knew Shiro was right.

That didn’t change his body’s need to fight. When he backed down, he still needed to let out all that pent-up anger and frustration, and Shiro understood. When Shiro checked his phone today and saw a single text that said _spar with me_ and he went to the gym without even thinking about it. Keith would already be there, raining his fists down on a punching bag without having bothered to wrap them first. Shiro would have to step in and force Keith to breathe for a moment while he gently wrapped the younger boy’s wrists. The second Shiro finished, Keith would be on the matt, fists up and ready to fight.

When Keith first came to the Galaxy Garrison, he fought with a lot of passion and a little skill. Everything he’d learned about fighting was through firsthand experience – mostly getting beat up after school, no matter what school it was because he never seemed to be able to fit in and get along with the other kids. Shiro saw that passion and all the unrecognized potential it held and asked if Keith would like to spar with him. Keith was hesitant and untrusting at first; it wasn’t often that people approached him nicely, but eventually he accepted Shiro’s offer. During that time, they fought so Keith could improve.

Once Keith got better (not quite as good as Shiro, because he was built like a brick wall, but good enough to hold his own and win every now and then), they began to spar for fun. It was lighter punches and playful smirks. It was rolling around on the matt late at night when no one else was around and pinning each other to the floor. It was kisses that tasted like sweat and hard work.

Today, Keith was fighting to release aggression. There was no goofing off and Shiro understood that. They both wrapped their wrists in silence and headed to the matt to face-off. Keith struck first, eager to get the buzzing anger in his blood to quiet. He was more forceful than normal, not taking the time to think before swinging like he usually did. “Patience yields focus,” that’s what Shiro had taught him, but Keith couldn’t seem to remember those words at the moment.

His movements were sloppy – sloppier than they had been when Keith and Shiro first started training together. His breaths were fast and labored, more than they should be at this stage in the match. Shiro’s concern steadily rose until he realized the moisture on Keith’s face was tears and not sweat. When Keith took another sloppy swing, he grabbed the smaller boy’s arm, brought it behind his back, and forced him down onto the matt. Keith yelled in protest – no words, just angry shouting – tears still running down his face. Shiro just held him there, whispering calming things into his ear, letting his frustration fall.

Eventually Keith stopped fighting him and slumped against the matt. His breathing was still labored, and tears were still dripping onto the matt, but Shiro could tell he was calming down. Gently, he let Keith go and began to pull away. Before he managed to get more than a few inches away, one of Keith’s hands frantically reached out, his finger twisting roughly into the material of his shirt. “Stay,” he whispered.

Shiro could never deny him anything, so he sat up and pulled Keith to his chest. The younger boy laid his head down and listened to the steady lullaby that was Shiro’s heartbeat. Shiro didn’t bothering asking Keith what was wrong; he trusted Keith to tell him when he was ready. And so, they sat in the echoing expanse of the gym – silent, but saying more with actions than they ever could with words.

 

  1. Hands



Keith woke to gentle fingers caressing the lines of his face. They traced his jaw, his cheekbones, the swell of his lips, the bridge of his nose, and the line of his eyebrows before cupping his cheek.

Keith let out a contented sigh and nuzzled the hand next to his face. “Takashi,” he whispered.

Shiro chuckled, leaning down to press a kiss to Keith’s forehead. “Good morning sleepyhead.”

Grumbling at Shiro’s ever-chipper morning attitude, he rolled over and buried his face in the larger man’s chest. “Don’t wanna get up,” he mumbled.

Shiro just laughed again and let his fingers continue their gentle ministrations. They ran through Keith’s thick and messy bedhead before trailing down to his bare back. There, they explored every dip and curve, running over the hills and valleys of his muscles. Keith shivered under his touch.

“If this is you motivating me to get up, it’s really not working,” Keith said.

“I know, but we have a few minutes before we have to get up and I just really like touching you. Is that weird to say?”

Keith shook his head. “No. Besides, I like being touched by you. You have nice hands.”

“Nice hands?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah, nice hands. They’re big and strong, but gentle. Before you, no one ever really touched me affectionately, and you do it all the time. It’s made me fall in love with your hands a bit.”

“Just my hands?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Okay, maybe the rest of you too. Just maybe.”

Shiro smiled. “I guess I’ll just have to settle for maybe.”

He trailed his hands back up to Keith’s hair where he gave a gentle tug. Keith looked up, leaning forward to press his lips to Shiro’s. Keith couldn’t help but think that he wouldn’t mind waking up this early every day if he could do it in Shiro’s arms.

 

  1. Heart



Keith and Shiro stood side by side on the roof of the Garrison, watching as the sun slowly sank below the desert sand. It looked like the world was catching fire before their eyes.

Keith turned to face Shiro, admiring the way the sun kissed his skin. “So, what did you need to tell me that you couldn’t tell me inside?”

Shiro took a deep breath, eyes never leaving the horizon. “I’ve been chosen to pilot the Kerberos mission.”

Keith swallowed roughly. “That’s awesome Shiro.”

“I know,” he said, turning to face Keith. “I know it is, but it’s really hard for me to get excited when I know I’ll be leaving you here for a whole year.”

“You’re flying all the way to the edge of the solar system, and you’re worried about me? I’ll be fine. It’s not like I haven’t been alone before.”

Shiro shook his head. “Don’t tell me not to worry about you Keith. I’ll always worry about you.”

“Well how about this,” Keith said, reaching out to grab Shiro’s hand. “You can worry about me being here without you, and I’ll worry about you being up in space without me.”

“Sounds like a decent compromise.”

“Good,” Keith smiled.

Shiro tugged him closer and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy. “You know, I came to the Garrison because I wanted to find myself among the stars one day, traveling to places no one has ever been before. I thought that would be the best thing I could get out of coming here, but I was wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“The best thing I got out of the Garrison was meeting you.”

“Am I allowed to say it’s the same for me?” Keith asked. “Because as much as I thought I needed to be up there, I think I need you more.”

“And you call me a sap,” Shiro laughed. “I think I’m starting to rub off on you.”

“Oh shut up,” Keith grumbled, pressing the side of his head to Shiro’s chest. The taller boy’s heart thrummed out a steady beat, one Keith had let himself fall asleep to many times. “I can hear your heart beating.”

When he breathed those words, Shiro’s heart began to beat a little faster and Keith couldn’t help but smile. To think that he could do that to Shiro was just a few words. It was amazing.

“That reminds me,” Shiro said, pulling Keith from his musings. “I have a present for you.”

“Oh?” Keith pulled back a bit.

Shiro let go of Keith to reach below the collar of his shirt and pull his dog tags over his head. “I want you to have these.”

Keith frowned. “Is that allowed?”

Shiro shrugged. “They’re making me a special set for the mission, so I won’t need these anymore.” He reached out and slipped them over Keith’s head, letting the tags rest over his heart.

Keith grabbed them and ran his fingers lovingly over the lettering, the words _Takashi_ _Shirogane_ caressing the pads of his fingers. Then he got on his tiptoes, wrapped his arms around Shiro’s neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

After a moment, he pulled away and let his forehead rest against Shiro’s. “I love you Takashi,” Keith breathed. It wasn’t whispered or hesitant, but firm and unyielding. Like he knew the constellations in the sky, he knew he loved the boy in front of him. And before Shiro could even respond, Keith knew Shiro loved him too.

 

 

 

 

(Bonus – Shiro’s favorite thing about Keith)

  1. Smile



Snow leopards and Bengal tigers are powerful, elegant, and undeniably beautiful. Their beauty grows more pronounced when people discover just how rare these animals are –their beauty must be cherished and celebrated. Keith’s smile was not so different. Shiro had loved Keith’s smile since the first time he saw it. The already beautiful boy grew even more radiant when his lips curled shyly at the corners or his eyes crinkled at the edges because he was smiling so hard. Shiro found Keith breathtaking when he smiled.

After he’d known Keith for a while, Shiro realized just how rare Keith’s smiles were. The boy only smiled around people he could trust, people who had proven to Keith they were more than temporary people simply passing through his life. His smiled had to be earned; no one undeserving would get to see just how beautiful Keith was when he smiled.

At first, Shiro was one of those unlucky, undeserving people. But he’d proven to Keith that he was going to stick around and be a part of the younger boy’s life, that Keith was worth all the effort it took to breakdown his heavily guarded walls and get to know him.

Shiro saw Keith smile for the first time in the Garrison library. Keith and Shiro had started seeing each other around more, largely due to Shiro’s persistent nature. Once he’d noticed Keith, he couldn’t stop noticing him everywhere he went. So Shiro had decided they should be friends. Keith was heavily reluctant at first, not understanding why Shiro wanted to hang out with him, but finally he relented, figuring that eventually Shiro would give up his silly quest and go back to leaving Keith alone.

Shiro had started sitting with Keith at lunch, since the boy usually sat alone. He’d walk over with his head held high, feeling no shame in sitting next to Keith who earned a reputation as a trouble maker. Then he would talk about whatever tickled his fancy: his classes, music he liked, movies he wanted to go see, his favorite foods that reminded him of home. Mostly, Keith would just listen. What did Takashi Shirogane, Golden Boy of the Garrison, get out of telling him all this random information? Shiro didn’t seem very bothered that Keith rarely spoke, he just seemed grateful the boy wasn’t chasing him off. And if Keith did speak up at lunch? Shiro’s whole face would light up, so blinding that Keith would have to look away from the genuine happiness radiating off the older boy.

One day, Keith didn’t go to the cafeteria. He had a test coming up in one of his classes and was really starting to freak out about it. He hadn’t intended to spend lunch in the library, but he couldn’t bring himself to abandon his studying when he absolutely could not afford to fail this test. So, Keith sat at a table in the back of the library, hunkered down over his books, determined to stay there until he figured out what the teacher had been talking about during their last class.

It wasn’t until someone cleared their throat and Keith looked up to see Shiro standing in front of him that he realized he’d forgotten about lunch. For some reason he felt the need to apologize to Shiro, even though they really didn’t have set plans to ever eat lunch together. He couldn’t do it though. Instead, he frowned.

“What are you doing here?” Keith asked.

“It’s lunch time,” Shiro said, setting down two lunch trays on the library table. “When you didn’t show up, I figured you might be in here. A lot of kids in your class have been complaining about a big test coming up lately.”

“So, you just decided to bring me lunch?” Keith felt a little dumbfounded.

“Well I couldn’t let you study on an empty stomach, now could I? And besides, it’s mac and cheese for lunch today. It would be a crime to miss it.” Shiro explained it to him like it was the only logical thing to do.

Shiro sat down across from him and slid one of the trays over to him.

“You know, we aren’t supposed to eat in the library,” Keith pointed out.

Shiro smiled and shrugged. “ _Technically_. But the librarian likes me, and pretty much everyone else is getting lunch in the cafeteria right now, so none of the other students will even know.”

Keith couldn’t argue with that logic. Most of the Garrison staff loved Shiro, and they were the only two people in the library at the moment. What Keith wasn’t expecting was for Shiro to offer him help studying for his test. Part of Keith wanted to say he didn’t need help, that he got into the Garrison on his own and he didn’t need anyone’s help to stay there, but he couldn’t do it. Shiro had never been anything but genuinely nice to him, and he could really use the help. So, with a smile, Keith tentatively accepted his offer.

Based on Shiro’s reaction, you would think Keith had just handed a brick of solid gold, but Keith’s smiled was just so unexpected and so beautiful that Shiro couldn’t hold back his joy at seeing it.

After that, Shiro made it his mission in life to make Keith smile as much as possible. As their friendship grew, so did the number of smiles Shiro got to see. When they eventually started dating, he got to see them all the time. And when he woke up one morning to see Keith waking up next to him, a smile already on the younger boy’s face? Shiro was convinced there was nothing better in the entire world. He wanted to wake up to that smile every day for the rest of his life.

Everyone else at the Garrison had a certain perception of Keith: cold, aloof, angry. Shiro wanted to go up to every one of them and tell them how wrong they were. Keith was the most caring, selfless, happy, and loving person he’d ever met. If they just put in the effort, they’d see it too. It wasn’t Keith’s fault that Shiro was the only person who gave an effort and never gave up on him.

After it was announced that Shiro would pilot the Kerberos mission, Keith began to smile less. He wanted to be happy for Shiro, but he’d miss him so much. Shiro couldn’t blame him – the feeling was mutual.

When Shiro was taken by the Galra, he thought he’d never get to see Keith smile again. He closed his eyes and pictured Keith smiling up at him first thing in the morning, and he held onto that mental image whenever things got tough and he thought about giving up.

When Shiro got back to Earth, he wondered if he and Keith would ever be able to smile so easily again. After all, Shiro had been imprisoned by aliens and Keith thought he was dead. But then they were in the middle on a universal space war and Shiro realized just how hard smiling could be some days. They saw so much pain, so many lives ripped apart by an uncaring tyrant. Every smile of Keith’s, he began to cherish even more. They were the most precious things in the universe.

Things never seemed to get any easier. There were always battles to plan and planets to visit and a coalition to build and lions to pilot and refugees to comfort and friends to mourn. The Galaxy Garrison had been a military organization, but he’d never been prepared for the atrocities of this war.

One day, after a battle with heavy losses, Shiro was beginning to feel rather hopeless. One of the more season rebel fighters noticed and offered up a piece of advice.

“Find something, one thing in this universe that drives you, that motivates you to get up in the morning and keep fighting, that makes you believe the fight is worth it, if only to protect that one thing you are fighting for. Some people think that something is an anchor, but I disagree. In this war, we have enough things dragging up down, weighing heavily on our souls. What you need is something that will lead you through the darkness surrounding us and get you to a better place. Find yourself a guiding light and hold onto it with everything you have.”

Shiro thought of Keith, of waking up with the younger man in his arms, of Keith smiling up at him even though the universe seemed to be falling apart around them. _That_ was his guiding light, and he had no intention of ever letting go.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's it! Just wanted say I thought about taking out #4 (Shiro's make-up skills) and replacing it with something else since I'm not a super big fan of that headcannon. However, I know some people really like it and it gave me the chance to add some super sappy stuff, so I kept it. 
> 
> Also, I'd really like to know which number was your favorite, so if you feel like commenting you should totally let me know!


End file.
